The strategic vision that was presented to club managers and stakeholders at a pre Season meeting held at the Friendship Hostel in Bakau and was hailed as a very good blue print as envisaged by the football leadership.
The strategic vision of the federation is to transform the national league into a competitive and quality status, increase the playing time of the players, to produce more quality players and to enable the clubs to be more competitive at continental competitions.
The 2016/17 national league Division One and Two is taking up a new dimension as promotion and relegation is such that first is to qualify to the premier league while the second, third and forth and fifth will go for a playoff. The summary here in:
THE GFF STRATEGIC VISION TO TRANSFORM THE NATIONAL LEAGUE
- To increase the quality and competitiveness of the leagues;
- To increase the playing time of the players;
- To produce more quality players;
- To enable the clubs to be more competitive in continental competitions.
2016/17 National League
1st Division No Changes
2nd Division Promotion
1st Position qualifies automatically to 1st Division
Play Offs for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Position: Winner qualify for 2nd spot to 1st Division
Format: 2nd vs 5th and 3rd vs 4th
Relegation: 3 teams to be relegated – 12th, 13th and 14th
3rd Division
The 3 champions from the 3rd Division leagues from Banjul, KM and West Coast qualifies to the 2nd Division automatically.
FF Cup: Semi Finals to be played on home and away basis
2017/18 National Leagues
1st Division: To be increased to 14 teams for 2018/2019
Relegation: 11th and 12th position teams to compete in play-offs against 3rd and 4th of the 2nd Division
2nd Division: To be increased to 16 teams for 2018/2019
Promotion: 1st and 2nd qualifies automatically to 1st Division
3rd and 4th position teams to compete in a play offs against 11th and 12th of the 1st Division
Format: 11th vs 4th
3rd vs 12th
Home and Away basis
Winners secure a place in 1st Division for 2018/2019
Relegation: 14th position to compete in a play offs against the 2nd place teams in the 3rd division leagues of Banjul, KM and West Coast Region
3rd Division: Champions of the 3rd Division Leagues in Banjul, KM and West Coast Region qualifies automatically to the 2nd Division
The 2nd place teams in the 3rd division leagues of Banjul, KM and West Coast Region compete in play offs against the 14th position team in the 2nd Division
FF Cup: 3rd division teams from Banjul, KM and West Coast to compete in the preliminaries
2018/19 National League
1st Division 14 teams
Relegation: 13th and 14th to be relegated
2nd Division
Promotion: 1st Position promoted
Play offs for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th position
Format: 2nd vs 5th, 3rd vs 4th
Winners qualify
Relegation 2 teams: 15th and 16th position teams
3rd Division
7 Regional Champions: Banjul, KM, West Coast, LRR, CRR, URR and NBR and the 14th position team in the 2nd Division
Format
Two groups: Winners qualify and 2nd place play-offs
FF Cup: All 3rd Division teams from the 7 Regions to compete in the preliminaries
2019/20 National League
1st Division: To be increased to 16 teams for 2020/21 season
Relegation: 13th and 14th position to compete in a play offs against 3rd and 4th of the 2nd Division
Format: 13th vs 4th and 3rd vs 14th
Home and away basis and winner promoted
2nd Division: To be increased to 18 teams for 2020/21 season
Promotion: 1st and 2nd qualifies
3rd and 4th compete in a play offs against 13th and 14th of the 1st Division
Relegation: 15th and 16th position relegated and 14th position to go to the 3rd division play offs
3rd Division: 7 Regional Champions: Banjul, KM, West Coast, LRR, CRR, URR and NBR and the 14th position team in the 2nd Division
Format
Two groups: Winners and Runner-ups qualify